I Can't Cry
by Eternal Love's Eclipse
Summary: A massive reiatsu appears in downtown Karakura, forcing Ichigo & Co. to get involved. The source is teenage girl who will drag all who know her into the dark mystery of her origins. IchigoXOC onesided maybe , other pairings hinted.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own Bleach, It's all Kubo's. **_

**World of the Living, Japan, Karakura Town**

_Pip-pip-pip!_

Huh…?

…_Pip-pip-pip! _

Ugh, shut up.

…_Pip-pip-pip!_

Pleeeaaase turn it off!

_...Pip-pip-pip!_

Arrrgh! I can't take it anymore! I'm gonna—

I threw off the covers and scrambled out of bed with vague, but murderous intentions only to slam into a small body that had leapt out of my closet with a similar idea to destroy the source of noise—or so I thought.

"Ichigo!" shrieked a voice far more demanding than the abominable noise-maker that I now recognized as Rukia's soul phone. "What are you doing? Hurry up and get out of your body! A massive reiatsu just entered downtown. So far it hasn't been identified so we have to check it out. Well, what are you waiting for? Get moving!"

Still trying to get my sleep-sodden brain to function, I fumbled for my badge, pressed it to my chest and felt the now familiar but still odd sensation of my soul being ripped from my body, the necessary means to turn me from Kurosaki Ichigo, human student to Kurosaki Ichigo, shinigami substitute. Also known as a Balancer, God of Death, and Soul-Reaper. One who helps good souls reach the afterlife in the Soul Society and protects them from evil spirits named Hollows who wish to devour them.

I was broken out of my daze by a sharp pain in the back of my head. Apparently Rukia had lost patience and was resorting to violent methods to wake me up and push me out my second-floor bedroom window into the late night/early morning sky. Still rubbing my skull, I jumped with Rukia—now satisfied—following close behind with her nose in her soul phone as she tracked the source of the disturbance. I let her take the lead as we rose above the rooftops using reishi spirit particles in the air to literally race across the sky, invisible to all but a few humans. We had done this so many times that I was able to stay close to my diminutive partner without having to pay attention so I allowed my mind to wander. I wondered what kind of creature this "massive reiatsu" was produced by and whether or not I should kill it just on the principle that it was the cause of my sleep being interrupted.

As I considered the merits of this, I felt tremors in the atmosphere; the kind that can only be caused by enormous amounts of spirit energy being released. The quality and amount of reiatsu being released was such that it was difficult to pinpoint its source. I had known such a feeling only once before, and that was when I had faced Captain Zaraki Kenpachi, monster shinigami of the 11th Court Guard Squad for the first time. I had won that fight, but I was immeasurably stronger now so for the reiatsu to affect me to such an extent must mean that it is also immeasurably stronger than Kenpachi's.

I swallowed and prepared myself for a tough battle, grabbing the hilt of my zanpakutou—my second partner, a sentient being named Zangetsu whose material body was in the form of a blade—for reassurance and to loosen his fabric sheath, feeling a gradual increase of the reiatsu's intensity. So gradual it was barely perceptible, almost like it was walking towards us at a human's pace.

Rukia and I tensed, instinctively falling into a back-to-back fighting stance while diligently scanning the horizon. We waited, trying to lock on to its location so as to pull off an ambush but neither of us could get more than the general direction it was going so we simply followed that. Still we guarded ourselves as the pressure of the unknown reiatsu increased to nearly unbearable levels, prepared to fight at the slightest notice…

The reiatsu was getting weaker. It had…_passed_ us?

I blinked in surprise. Not only had we not seen it as it went by, it hadn't even taken advantage of our incompetence to attack us?

"Ichigo!" Rukia cried at the same time I noticed a sharp, sudden, dramatic decrease in the reiatsu, allowing the source to be found.

We had made the mistake of assuming our enemy would come at us from roofs or the air while in fact, it had been on the ground the entire time, intent on some destination. More curious than anxious now (I had been reassured by the lack of attempted violence), I moved closer to get a better look at the target. I saw what seemed to be a teenage girl wearing a strange mask struggling to carry something in her arms as she headed toward—

My family's clinic! My house! Somehow we had come back without even noticing our location. Panicked, my speed left Rukia behind in my haste to cut her off. My sudden movement seemed to finally alert her to my presence as she glanced at me then bolted for the clinic door. I drew Zangetsu from his fabric wrappings as I landed on the steps in front of her and placed the point at her throat. She inhaled sharply in shock at me appearing before her so suddenly but made no other action except to clutch the bundle in her arms closer. The bundle, as I could now clearly see, was a human girl around the age of ten. Presumably a foreigner as she had white skin and blonde hair.

Clenching my jaw in frustration—I was no good with hostage situations—I tried to think of how to separate the girl from her kidnapper. I hadn't even the slightest idea when Rukia, quickly assessing the situation, and flitted in behind her and pierced through her left lung. The girl's eyes widened in pain behind her mask, her arms twitched, and…she disappeared.

I didn't even have time to wonder where she went before the clinic's doors were thrown open as she sprinted impossibly fast inside and up the stairs. I raced after, fear choking me as I knew that I would not catch up to her in time to protect my father and sisters sleeping upstairs should she intend any harm to them. I traced her path into my father's room to see her bending over his unconscious form with the human girl laid beside him. Reacting on instinct, I propelled myself across the room and used my momentum to pin her with Zangetsu to the back wall like a butterfly on a display card. Again she made no sounds or other noticeable expressions of pain, simply staring at me with emotionless eyes that occasionally flickered to her former hostage. Now that she was sufficiently subdued, I was able to examine both her physical appearance and reiatsu more closely.

The mask she wore was the dark silver of mercury and looked as though it had been splashed onto her face as there was no apparent pattern to its form; completely enclosing the right eye, but only half of the left, swirling below the eye up into the hairline on one side, and dribbling down the cheek bone and part of the mouth on the other… It was the beauty of chaos at its finest. The eyes behind the mask were delicately shaped, with long eyelashes and a brilliant navy blue hue. Both the mouth and lips were full, giving her a slightly childish appearance in spite of her mature body. All other features were lost beneath the mask, but overall it was a pretty face. An odd, dark, silvery ash blonde was the nearest I could come to describing her hair and it hinted at her having foreign origins as well. The white skin so fair that it seemed to glow in the pre-dawn light filtering into the room was also a testament to that. Her clothes were deceptively simple—a plain, normal-looking long-sleeved shirt and pants, deceptive because they were made entirely of reishi and subtly faded from black to grey to white, and back again.

Satisfied with her innocuous appearance, I concentrated on her reiatsu to try to determine what type of creature she was. I didn't know exactly what made a human's reiatsu (if they had any) different from a shinigami's or how I knew the difference between a shinigami's and a Hollow's reiatsu but I could always differentiate each from the other. Perhaps it was the scent? But that's not quite right as reiatsu doesn't really have any physical traits exactly…. Ah well, it's impossible to explain even to myself. But anyway, I compared her reiatsu's _scent _with a human's, shinigami's, Hollow's, Bount's, and with that of upper level Hollow such as Arrancar and Espada. I even tried to match it with a Quincy's—a type of human with the power to kill Hollow—reiatsu, but nothing came even close.

By this time Rukia had finally caught up with me—I had left her behind in my frantic race upstairs—and stood beside me and stared at the girl still passively pinned to the wall, presumably doing what I had just a few moments before.

"Well? What is she?" I asked after giving her time enough to do her analysis, knowing she had more experience with such matters.

"I—I'm not sure…. It _almost_ feels like…. But is it possible…?" she murmured more to herself than me. "She seems li—"

She broke off midsentence as several things happened at once. Our silent captive collapsed, supported only by the sword impaling her shoulder, which was dangerously close to ripping completely through with the force; the little girl on the bed started shaking and crying in pain, and my father Isshin woke up, completely bewildered to find a child who was not his in his bed. I heard the door to my sisters' bedroom open as the racket roused them from their sleep. Soon Yuzu would walk through the doorway and following close behind would be Karin—Karin! I cursed as she was the only member of my family who could see spiritual beings nearly as clearly as I did and this was a scene I did not want her to witness.

Alerted by my curse, Rukia collected her composure and somehow made some order out of the ruckus.

"Take _that_ to Urahara's and ask him to have Tessai patch it up. We need the information," nodding in the injured girl's direction. "I shall stay here and ensure the human child's well-being and settle the situation with Karin."

I started to protest, worried for my family's safety and apprehensive about being alone with the…whatever it was, but Rukia cut me off, saying, "If the human is injured, and it is beyond your father's ability to heal, can you save her?"

She had me and she knew it. Without another word I strode to the girl and pulled out Zangetsu to release her from the wall. I tried not to cause any unnecessary further damage, but I wasn't gentle either as this was the creature who had endangered my family, abducted an innocent girl, and done who knows what else to how many others. Removing the weapon caused an alarming amount of blood to flow from the already dripping wound, quickly dyeing her monochromatic outfit a shocking scarlet. It was enough to make me worried in spite of myself. Unsure, I glanced at Rukia, whose eyes were as wide as I had ever seen them.

"Hurry! If you don't she will die!" she very nearly screamed, shocked out of her shell of cold indifference.

I scooped the girl into my arms as quickly as I could without jostling her, but the blood pouring out increased despite my efforts. _"To hell with it," _I thought and focused my efforts entirely on speed, abandoning all caution. Her breathing became suddenly shallow, and when I looked down I saw that not only was she almost completely covered in her own blood, but also that her clothes were becoming less material and fading away, leaving blood her _only_ covering. Later I would realize this was due to the loss of the control of her reiatsu prompted by her dire state, but at that time I could only think of the warm, well-proportioned, nude young woman in my arms. I wouldn't have thought I could blush in such serious circumstances, but my body betrayed me by flooding my face (and other areas) with blood.

My strain and embarrassment spurred me to a velocity I had never before reached while my life wasn't in danger. The girl was becoming even paler than her natural tone, creating a stark contrast against the violent blossoms on her skin and her body was cooling. Her breaths became less frequent and more labored.

"Damn." I was going to lose her? After all the effort I had already spent capturing her, she was going to die? I expected to feel angry or frustrated but not depressed. Why was I sympathizing with someone who was a kidnapper and probably a thief and murderer beside? I looked at her face, hoping to find the answers and was astounded to find that her mask had disappeared along with her clothes. I found that I liked her better with the mask on. While she wore it, she looked completely human. An eccentric one, but a human nonetheless. Without it, however, there could be no doubt that she was something apart, something identifiable only as _not human._ Her skin was flawless, her nose straight, her cheekbones high, her eyebrows thin and perfectly shaped, her eyelashes long and gently curved, and, though I couldn't be sure, it seemed as though her face was perfectly symmetrical. She could not be human. She was simply too breathtaking to be human.

Stunned, it was a while before I realized the reason I could see her features so clearly; dawn was breaking. I, for the first time in a while, looked ahead of me to see the rising sun backlighting Urahara's shop, making it appear as the sanctuary it had suddenly become. Sprinting the last few meters, I shifted the girl to one arm (wincing as I renewed the flow of blood from her wounds) and pounded on the door with the other. I waited for what seemed like an eternity before the door opened. I opened my mouth to start my explanation as to why I was here but stopped when I noticed that the person before me was not the shop owner, but his worker Ururu.

"Hello, Ichi—" she started in her slow, quavering voice before she became aware of what exactly it was I was carrying.

At that moment Urahara came up behind her with his usual good timing saying, "We-ell, good morning Kurosaki-san! What brings you to my shop so early? Could it be that beautiful burden you hold? My, my Kurosaki-san, what _have _you been doing?"

As was typical, I was thrown off track by the unnatural cheeriness he maintained in all situations inappropriate or not and stood gaping like a fish, blushing as I became very conscious of the naked girl I held.

"It's your choice if you want to stand around doing nothing, but it looks as though that girl needs some help…?" he hinted.

"Ah, yes." I mentally shook myself and continued, "A massive reiatsu entered the region about an hour ago, we received orders to check it out, and when we did we found this."

I wondered if I was intentionally leaving out the fact that I was the one who was responsible for her current condition but decided it really didn't matter. It was more important to get her help as soon as possible. A detailed explanation could come later.

He raised an eyebrow at blanks he could hear in my story but let it drop as he set his priority on the girl.

"Tessssaiiii~!" he sang. "There's a visitor here who came especially to see you!"

Ducking under the entryway to get through the back door, the dark-skinned man with the physique of a body builder peered through his glasses at the entrance as he tried to figure out who Urahara was referring to. Not being able to see my passenger through the backs of Urahara and Ururu, he confusedly asked, "Kurosaki?" as he walked closer. When he reached the grinning Urahara, the shocked Ururu, and the surprisingly bashful Jinta (the boy and the younger of Urahara's two live-in child workers), he blushed through his pigment before he noticed the blood.

"Is all of that hers?" he asked as softly as his deep, booming voice could manage.

I only nodded in answer, feeling slightly guilty even though half of it was Rukia's doing.

"Jinta! Ururu! Get me three number seven reishi injectors, hot water, bandages, and one of Urahara-tenchou's spare robes! Urahara-tenchou, can you set up a barrier? I don't have time to do one and I need it to purify and concentrate the reishi here. Even _I _am going to have difficulty with this one." He barked out his orders and soon the doorway had cleared and he all but yanked me inside. His hands darted out to take her, but he paused just before he touched her and murmured, "Excuse me," to the unconscious girl and bowing his head slightly as he did so.

With her slight body secured in his great arms, he walked with the speed and grace of a panther to where his requested items had been placed and Urahara had drawn the circle for the barrier which he was still in the process of forming as he spoke words imbued with power in a strong voice.

"Distilled moonlight flow like water through the white forest! Spiral tighter until all darkness is crushed! The mirrors of gods focus and grant prayers of repentance! Sacred art 87, cleanse!"

With that final word, the white light that had been building burst with a blinding flash as the spell was released. The light faded as it retreated into the barrier and turned it a bright white that was impossible to see through. I stared at it for a while, trying to identify what it was that I was suddenly longing for.

"Well, Kurosaki-san, judging from her condition and Tessai's haste, I would say they are going to be in there for the next couple of hours. She is worse than you were after you had that disagreement with Bya-kun, so it will take some time to stabilize her. This being said, why don't you tell me what happened while we eat?"

With his eyes shining darkly from within the shadows caused by his floppy, green and white striped hat and his goofy grin replaced by a sinister smile, it was impossible to refuse or talk my way out of his order. Cowed, I followed him into the dining area where Ururu, overhearing his "request", had set out plates, utensils, and mugs. I was quiet as I listened to the dissonant sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen, in no hurry to deal with "dark Urahara." The former captain of squad twelve and head of the Department of Research and Development allowed me my childish procrastination until Ururu had brought and poured coffee for the both of us, at which point he began his questioning.

"Where did you find this porcelain doll?"

I looked up from my contemplation of my coffee, confused as to what he meant.

"Well, she obviously isn't human as she neither looks like one nor is she in any sort of physical body. Her reiatsu doesn't match with any spirit being _I've _ever met before, but we must call her something so "doll" is as good a term as any, right?" he explained. "Her skin is just as white anyway."

"I suppose it fits…," I replied, not sure whether I liked the connotations of "puppet" and "lifelessness" present in the term. Getting back to his query, I answered, "We first sighted her in Karakura's shopping district where we trailed her to my house."

Interest lit his eyes as he asked, "Do you know why she was headed for your house?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "I didn't have the chance to ask her either as when I went to head her off, I saw she had taken a human hostage. At that point, Rukia and I were more concerned about the human girl's health and safety than figuring out what the "Doll's" intentions were. Rukia attempted to immobilize the Doll and shock her into dropping the girl by attacking her from behind, but…"

"But?" he nudged eagerly.

"Before that, her speed had been human. After, she exceeded the speed at which I could still see her. It seemed like the pain brought out a hidden reserve of power."

"…Couldn't see her? You? One who can clearly see the shunpo of Shinigami of the highest class and the sonido of Espada? Now I'm really intrigued. What kind of power does she have?" he said, more to himself than me. "So, where did she go with the speed?"

"She went upstairs into my father's room. When I caught up to her, I saw her bowed over my father. I panicked, I admit, and pinned her to the wall as a reflex." I was trying to sound more sure of my actions than I really was. Somehow they seemed wrong now that I was saying them aloud. But there was nothing else I could have done—right?

"Well that accounts for the shoulder wound," he thought out loud, interrupting my reverie. "But why would she choose Kurosaki-tou-san's room of all places? Your sisters' room and even yours is more accessible, isn't it? Neh, why go into your house at all, especially after being attacked? She should have been able to feel your and Rukia's—her enemies'—reiatsu lingering about the place, not to mention that she could only trap herself if she entered a building. With her speed, running would have been the smarter choice."

Now that he brought it up, her actions confused me as well. Why do all these things with such reckless disregard for herself? Was she working under someone's orders? Could it be Aizen…? For some reason, I didn't think so. The more I thought, the less sense everything made. What did she want…?

A picture of her clutching her hostage even as Rukia's sword stuck out of her chest suddenly flashed into my mind. I remembered now. The first place her eyes had turned had not been to the source of pain, as most people's would, but to the person we had assumed to be her hostage. What kidnapper would show such concern for a mere hostage? A thought was slowly solidifying in my mind, and as it grew, so did my shame. The skin, the hair, even the shape of the mouth… the similarities kept piling up. There was no way they could be strangers. As close in appearance as they were, they could even be...

I broke off the thought as horror filled me. I brought a shaking hand to my face to cover my wide, guilt-filled eyes as I tried to suppress my gag reflex. So strong was my reaction that Urahara, who had previously been absorbed in the miso soup Ururu had laid before us sometime during the conversation, looked up and asked concernedly, " Kurosaki-san, what's wrong? …Ichigo? Ichigo!"

His voice somehow seemed dim to my ears as I looked at him with my face still covered with repulsion for the deeds I had committed. Shocked, I slowly and distantly acknowledged the question in his gaze.

"Her "hostage"… She was the same. Almost exactly the same. How…how did we not see it before? The pale skin, the light hair, even the mouth! All the same, all the same."

Alarmed by my tone, he grabbed me by the shoulders and, shaking me slightly, forcefully asked, "_What _is the same? What did you figure out?"

I laughed hollowly—adding to Urahara's growing apprehension as I did—before replying, "The Doll, she never had a hostage. The girl she was holding…they look the same. Even though the girl is clearly human—the girl and the Doll…they're sisters."

_**AN: All right, my first venture into the Bleach fandom. The more times I read this chapter the more it annoys me but I can't figure out why. If you can pinpoint the reason please review and notify me of it so I can prevent it in the chapters to come. Also, how would you like the squads to be called in future chapters? Nbantai, N**__**th**__** Squad, Squad N, etc.? I can't seem to make up my mind so there is a chapter where all these terms are all mixed and it really bothers me; I'd really like to standardize it. Thank you.**_


	2. Revelation

_**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except the nameless characters and whoever else I create to make the story make sense.**_

He was silent for a while before he finally spoke.

"If that's true… This is something that needs to be verified and soon," he remarked quietly. "Where is the girl now?"

"She should still be at my house. Rukia told me that she would stay to make sure the girl got proper treatment and to do damage control with my family."

"Treatment?" he asked, slightly surprised. "Was she hurt?"

"Not that I could see, but since she was wrapped up in a blanket, only her face was visible. We got worried when she woke up and started screaming."

"Wouldn't anyone scream after waking in an unfamiliar place surrounded by strangers?"

"Not like this." I shuddered slightly, thinking of the pain-filled shrieks that had filled the air as I left.

Thoughtful now, Urahara was still for a minute before saying, "I am going to call Rukia on her soul phone and see if she has found anything out on her side. You should stay here and eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

He smiled at me before leaving the room. I slumped in my chair, inexplicably relieved by his departure. I was tired; tired from Urahara's exhausting personality, from my lack of sleep, and from all the intense emotions I had been feeling.

The guilt over attacking the Doll started creeping back and I started worrying about how she was doing. She was innocent and I had hurt her without a second thought. What if she died because of me? What if—

Just then, Urahara peeked back around the door and said, "Oh, and Ichigo, don't waste your time feeling guilty for doing your job. You didn't kill her right? I wouldn't worry if I was you. Tessai may not look like it, but he is the best at kidou out of everyone I have ever met, which happens to be quite a lot. Also, that Doll…she is very strong. She'll pull through."

He then vanished just as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving me to process his words in my physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted state. I sipped at my soup, wondering how the Doll was doing within that barrier. I felt the urge to go and see, but I knew it wouldn't do any good so I laid my head on the table instead. What Urahara said…. Was he right? Would she really be fine? He said she was strong but she looked so small, fragile, and weak in Tessai's arms. What if she did die? What would I do then? Why did I care so much? What was this feeling…

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"_Ichigo…. Ichigo. You need to wake up now."_

…Mom? What…? No, it couldn't be. She had been dead for years now.

"_Ichigo, Urahara-tenchou wanted me to tell you that Tessai-san is done."_

Tess—? I remembered that I was at Urahara's shop. I must have fallen asleep after I brought that girl—

Fully awake now, I jumped out of my seat as I riveted my attention on Ururu, who was rather shocked by my sudden movement.

Recovering, she finished her message. "Um, yeah. Tessai-san is done and they both need you to come as soon as possible—"

I was out of the door and halfway down the hall before she had even realized I had left. Skidding into the room where the barrier had been, I saw Tessai and Urahara crouched over her. Stranger yet, I noted with embarrassment that she had been bandaged and covered with a light blanket, but not clothed. Coming closer, I observed with relief her even breathing and closed eyes; signs of peaceful sleep.

Finally feeling my presence, Urahara and Tessai straightened and motioned for me to come to her other side so I could see her back. I crept around, trying my hardest to preserve her modesty, and looked at her bared back. I inhaled sharply and my eyes widened with both horror and anger at what I saw there. Red scars spanned across her back; somehow, someone had carved an image into her flawless skin that spanned her entire torso.

The effect was chilling for a few reasons; the first was that it brought up questions no one really wanted answered. Who did this? How depraved and cruel did they have to be to so carefully etch such a complex character into another's body? What kind of pain did she experience while they inflicted such torture? The second reason was that it was incredibly difficult to scar a spiritual body. To do so the person's spirit body must have been badly injured by something of at least equal spiritual power or have their physical body hurt in such a way as to affect the person on a psychological level.

And the last reason it unnerved us was the symbol's meaning.

"Urahara… That kanji…doesn't it mean…?" I hesitantly asked.

"Yes. It has the readings of zero, emptiness, and nothing. It is drawn using twelve strokes, meaning that whoever did this sliced into her at least that many times. Probably more as these scars look years old and still maintain such a vivid scarlet. In a sick way, it's impressive."

I didn't think I could agree with it being impressive, but it certainly was sick. What kind of person would do such a thing? And, moreover, why?

"In fact," he continued, "after taking a closer look, I would say that the skin was peeled off completely. That would be the only way to leave such a clean, distinct outline and bright color.

"But that is not the real issue here. Our main problem right now is this. Tessai, show him."

"Yes," he replied curtly before gently lifting her and undoing the bandages over the wounds Rukia and I had inflicted upon her.

I moved to stop him, but his deft hands had undone the last wrap before I reached him and I froze. Now uncovered, it was easy to see that the wounds were as fresh as when I had carried her to the shop. Having experienced Tessai's medical aid first-hand before, I was shocked at how little progress had been made. Even if she had been left alone, the blood should have clotted by now and yet it was still sluggishly making its way out of both gashes. I looked inquiringly at him, demanding answers.

"She's rejecting the healing," he said simply. When it was obvious I didn't understand, he sighed and told me, "Watch."

He gathered his power in his hands, causing them to glow a slight blue. It was a technique I had seen Rukia use many times during battle to help heal her comrades and it had saved my own life more than a few times. As he placed his hands over the longer mark left by Zangetsu, I fully expected the wound to close and age if not disappear completely. Instead, when Tessai got within a few centimeters of her skin and attempted to push the spell into the wound, the spell slid off and spread out like oil floating on water rather than sinking in as it was supposed to.

He gave another heavy sigh and continued his explanation, "The only thing I can do is make her sleep, and even that is difficult. When I realized healing her directly was impossible, I tried to boost her own healing power by supplementing her reiatsu with injections of reishi gleaned from myself and Urahara-tenchou and it did seem to help—at first." He then showed me marks on her arm that looked like weeks old infections due to the blackening veins. "Her body is attacking the foreign reishi. The reishi is helping her heal, but so much of her body's energy is devoted to getting rid of the foreign particles that the injections are doing more harm than good."

"So I thought that if we could inject reishi strong enough to overwhelm her defenses completely, we might actually be able to make some progress," Urahara broke in cheerfully. "We've already tried both mine and Tessai's but you can see how that worked out. Sooo, the only other logical option is you."

"…You need my reishi? But I don't even know how—"

"There's one more thing I forgot to mention, Ichigo," the eccentric shop-owner interrupted. "The power of her reiatsu is steadily decreasing as though it is being leeched away by something. If it disappears completely, it is possible she will die. Do you really have time to be so hesitant?"

My eyes glinted as I shoved away my insecurities and found my resolve.

"What do you want me to do?"

Without saying a word he motioned for me to follow him into an adjoining room and through the trapdoor in the floor. He and Tessai climbed down after me with whatever supplies they needed. I stood in the enormous training ground beneath Urahara's shop as I waited for Tessai to finish his preparations. When I asked if they had had to go here to get their reishi collected Urahara replied, "Of course not. Unlike you, we actually have control of our reiatsu. And even if we didn't it probably wouldn't be as destructive as yours is."

I didn't really know if what he said was a compliment or not but the truth in it was undeniable, so I didn't argue. If I tried to release my reiatsu while at full power, I would probably blow away the shop. My reiatsu was rough, to say the least.

Coming out of my daze, I saw that I had been encircled by open reishi injectors. Still unsure as to what to do, I looked to Urahara for guidance.

He met my stare, shook his head and sighed in mock exasperation. "Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo. Don't worry. All you have to do is release as much reiatsu as you can as quickly as you can by going into bankai. After you do that, the reishi will naturally flow into the injectors because of the hansei the insides of the injectors are coated with. Then it is up to Tessai to close the injectors and collect the reishi."

"'Hansei'?" I asked.

"A substance invented by the Department of Research and Development that attracts spiritual particles. Based on the principle "opposites attract" they named it "hansei" or anti-spirit. You can say what you want about the name, but you can't deny its usefulness.

"Well if no one has any more questions, let's get started, shall we?"

I nodded at him and took Zangetsu from my back. I held him in my right hand and grasped my right forearm with my left hand as I gathered my reiatsu and said, "Bankai!" With this one word, my power exploded out as everything from my clothes to my sword was restructured. My simple, Edo-era black shihaukshou was transformed into a flashy, form-fitting black coat with red lining while my Zanpakutou morphed from its usual, hugely oversized black butcher-knife with a silver blade and white cloth hilt to a pure black katana with a swastika acting as the guard and a chain dangling from the hilt. As the transformation finished, so did the initial burst of reiatsu, so I started concentrating on pouring out even greater amounts of my spiritual power. Just when I started to feel the strain of releasing so much, I heard Urahara cry out, "That's enough now, Ichigo! You can stop!"

Relieved, I relaxed and looked at the injectors that had been circling me, curious as to whether or not I could see my reishi within the clear tubes. To my surprise, I found that of the twenty or so that had been placed around me, at least five were completely shattered and about that many more were cracked.

"What happened?" I asked myself, not really expecting an answer.

But of course, Urahara gave me one anyway. "You happened," he said grumpily from behind one of the many rock towers in the "room." "I shouldn't have had you _try_. You release more than enough just by _walking_ whilein bankai. Not only did you completely ruin _twelve _of my best reishi injectors—which were very expensive, might I add—you also damaged the training room Tessai and I worked so hard to build. Yare, yare. I put you down here so you _wouldn't _cause any damage. Though I suppose at least some of the fault is mine. I completely misjudged how much reiatsu you can release and exactly how _little _control of it you have. Gods above! You could have killed me with all the rocks your reiatsu was throwing around…"

I surveyed the damage I had caused while he continued mumbling complaints and saw that cracks had spider-webbed up the nearest wall and onto the ceiling a thousand meters above, completely ruining the partially-cloudy sky visage it normally had. All the ground within a six meter radius of me had been completely cleared of rocks except for a strange pile just within the circle of injectors. Just as I started to wonder why only those rocks had been spared translocation, they shifted as though the ground beneath them was rising up and fell to reveal Tessai's broad back and shoulders. He shook like a dog before running to the injectors and hurriedly closing the ones that were still intact.

As he piled them into his arms, I was able to see my reiatsu swirling within; blue, black, and red, fighting without mixing or one gaining over the others. In a way it was beautiful, but it seemed rather…unstable.

"Is…is that normal? Or even safe?" I asked no one in particular.

"No, it's not normal but that's why it is so strong." The answer made me start as I hadn't even thought Urahara was listening over his moaning. "As for its safety, I think you should know that it's not safe at all, what with all the trouble you've had with _him._"

I grimaced as I thought of the numerous times _he_ had taken control of my body and the difficulty it took to suppress him. Due to this, it was a little while before I realized the true implications of what Urahara said.

"Wait—does that mean that some of that reishi is his? If that is the case, there is no way we can use it on that girl! Who knows what the consequences of that will be. It might even make her like me! You said you wanted to overwhelm her defenses, but what if she turns into a Hollow completely? We ca—"

"We have no other choice," Urahara interrupted darkly. "Besides, the Hollow reishi you have will probably be more beneficial to her than anything else. Of course there is the possibility she will turn into a Hollow, but I would rather take that risk than have her die."

"…What do you mean? Why would Hollow reishi help her?" I inquired, feeling rather lost.

Urahara sighed as he took off his head and scratched his head, seeming reluctant to answer. "It is because she has so much of it herself. Before her reiatsu dropped too low for it to be analyzed with the tools I have, I found that her reiatsu is mostly composed of human and Hollow-type reishi. It wasn't only your strength that makes you the best match for her—even the components are the best match. Unlike us, who have only Shinigami reishi, you have Shinigami, human, and Hollow reishi." He nodded at the tubes as he added, "As you can clearly see," referring to the quarreling colors within.

I could see his point so I remained quiet as I stared morosely at the injectors, thinking of how this crappy situation was mostly, if not all, my fault. If I hadn't panicked when she had started toward my house, Rukia would have thought more before stabbing her in such a critical area. If I had assessed her intentions more carefully, neither I nor Rukia would have attacked her. If I—

I was interrupted by Jinta slamming open the trap door that connected the underground training area and the shop above. He popped his vividly red head through the opening and yelled, "Yo! Tench' there's a weird pineapple head guy from the Soul Society here to see you and Triangle Eyes!"

I bristled at Jinta using his old nickname for me but was too curious about the visitor to reprimand him so I waited as he continued.

"He says it really urgent but I don't think anyone as stupid-looking as him would be trusted with anything so important. I mean, what is with his eyebrows? They—"

"Renji?" I asked wonderingly as I broke off his deprecating rant and took a step forward. "What is he doing here?"

"Someone you know, Ichigo?" inquired Urahara mischievously. "I know! It must be that he fell in love with you when you acting so debonair and noble, risking your life in Soul Society just for the sake of your own moral principles. So, driven by his love and not being able to stand your ignorance of his feelings, he came here on the excuse of "official business" to confess and deepen your relationship. Oh Ichigo, you metro sexual, you! Who knew you were into such things? If only Inoue-san knew—"

A swift backwards kick to the gut managed to shut him up, as I finally lost patience with his nonsense. Even after all the time I spent with him, it was too hard to try to keep up with his mercurial moods. However, the hours together did teach me that good old-fashioned physical violence was the only way to calm him down when he got like this.

He pouted at me as he straightened from his crouch and scurried past me to indignantly follow Tessai, who had ignored our antics and was already a quarter of the way up the ridiculously long ladder that led down from the trap door.

Feeling too lazy to climb up the ladder in a conventional manner, I tried to think of how I could make the trip both easier and faster. My first thought was to use reishi to simply walk up to the door but there really wasn't enough down here to do that so I came up with another plan.

I waited for Urahara to make his way into the shop then sprinted toward the ladder. My speed while in bankai was such that my surroundings blurred slightly and the ladder seemed to race toward me. Just before I crashed into it, I threw myself backward and kept running, praying that this stunt would work. I felt my foot make contact with the first rung and my momentum carried me up the wall. Making sure my feet hit the rungs took all of my concentration, so it wasn't until it was almost too late that I realized that my current horizontal position wouldn't fit through the door. Startled by the nearness of the ceiling to my face, I stopped and threw myself back even further. Of course, this broke my speed and allowed something called "gravity" to take effect. Before I could fall to my very painful landing some thousand meters below, my legs somehow caught a rung only a few below the one I had been on. The sudden stop caused by back to slam against the ladder and I hung there for a minute, stunned as my mind tried to catch up on what had just happened.

As I dangled, the absolute last person I would want to see me in such an absurd position peered through the door.

The person who had been my ally during my mission to save Rukia from execution in the Soul Society stared at me for a while before remarking, "Ichigo, I know your situation must be very confusing to you and you might be wondering who you are right now, but you are a substitute Shinigami, not a vampire." Renji feigned concern for a while longer for effect before grinning wickedly and taking a picture with his soul phone.

I glared at him as I pulled myself up and clambered through the opening with as much hauteur as I could muster under the circumstance.

"Now Ichigo, is that any way to treat a friend you haven't seen in over a month?" he asked with pretended hurt in his voice.

Ignoring this inane query, I replied with a question of my own. "What are you doing here?" I said demandingly.

He frowned slightly at my tone but answered. "Can't you guess? Such a strong disturbance can't go without investigation by the Soul Society. I was sent because I am the only lieutenant-class Shinigami who knows both you and Rukia, the two in charge of this district."

I stared at him, incredulous because I simply could not believe that he would more readily talk to me than Rukia.

Understanding my silent "huh?" he continued, "I came to see you because Rukia said you and Urahara Kisuke should know more than her at this point. …You do, don't you?"

Raising an eyebrow at his ridiculous assumption that I would somehow know how much Rukia knew, I pointed it out by saying, "Well, that depends. What does Rukia know?"

Renji started slightly before answering, "Oh, Kisuke didn't tell you? All the information I got from her was what happened before you guys split up and that the human girl was in pretty bad shape but is doing okay now thanks to some medical treatment from your dad. She told me that if I wanted to know anything about the source of the disturbance I should go to Urahara's shop."

"What was wrong with the human girl?" I asked, hoping that we weren't the cause of whatever it was.

Renji tilted his head slightly, looking remarkably like a dog as he replied, "I think Rukia said that she was covered in minor to moderate burns and bruises, along with a few broken bones. She thought the screaming when she woke up was probably due to a jostling of the fractures or friction on the burns but when she tried to help with kidou, it all just sort of slid off or dispelled."

Focused now, I asked, "But you said the girl was okay now?"

"Yeah. That was the really weird part. By the time I got there, the girl only looked a little scuffed up and, according to Rukia, the bones started connecting immediately after your dad set them. Luckily, your dad seemed to think it was just a result of cleaning her up that made her look better and he didn't even notice the dramatically reduced swelling around the breaks."

I heaved an internal sigh of relief at the knowledge that the girl was fine and my family remained, for the most part, uninvolved. I was still confused as to why the girl reacted the same to kidou as the Doll and how she was injured in the first place, but I figured Urahara would be able to make some connection with that.

Renji startled me back onto the task at hand by saying, "So now that you know what I know, you have to tell me what you know."

Without any further hesitation, I recounted to him the events that had occurred from the time I left with the Doll to when he found me in the training room. I told him about finding out the two were most likely sisters and how the Doll was also highly resistant to kidou. After saying that the Doll was still in pretty bad shape since we couldn't use healing spells and she rejected both Tessai's and Urahara's reishi, Renji interrupted.

"'Bad shape'? How bad? The Soul Society needs to settle this matter quickly and for that we need her. Can you take me to her? I want to see her."

Slightly taken aback by his sudden seriousness, I replied, "Uh, sure," before leading him into the room where she was being kept.

Tessai and Urahara were already there preparing to inject her with my reishi while Jinta and Ururu hung in the back, ready to help if needed. Tessai bent down to inject my reishi in the arm opposite of the one marked by the previous attempts. He carefully emptied first one, then two, then three of the syringes with practiced precision into her.

"I think this is all we should try for now," he remarked as he straightened. "I don't want to give her anymore in case she has a bad reaction like last time. Also, I don't know how much her soul can take of this stuff before it starts breaking down. We will wait and see what effect Ichigo's reiatsu has on her and go from there."

Following Tessai's lead, all of us headed for the door, casting glances back at the patient every so often. Just as we had reached the door, I saw her flinch once before going into convulsions.

"Tessai!" I yelled as I rushed back to steady her thrashing, desperately (and futilely) trying to keep her from reopening the thin scabs over her wounds.

I had just gotten a grip on her arms when she woke and with a chilling, excruciating scream.

_**AN: For those potential reviewers who don't review because they worry about nit-picking…don't! I love nit-pickers. As a warning, I may be taking a break from this story to work on my other Bleach fic as I realized recently that I have no clear main conflict—internal or external—for this story. By the way, if you hate the title you are not alone. I hate it too and as soon as I solve the aforementioned problem I will probably re-title this story.**_


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